Distorted Mirror
by Phoenix.G.Fawkes
Summary: Companion piece to ‘Unwell’. For Wesley, looking at Percy was like looking at a distorted mirror. Xover with HP.


**Disclaimer**: Rowling, Whedon, Bloomsbury, Mutant Enemy, Warner Bros... You know, the usual.

**Summary**: Companion piece to 'Unwell'. For Wesley, looking at Percy was like looking at a distorted mirror. Xover with HP.

**Notes:** You already know that English isn't my native language, so feel free to point out any grammar mistakes. I swear I don't bite.

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Distorted Mirror

For Wesley, looking at Percy was like looking at a distorted mirror. A mirror that, instead of showing his actual reflection, showed what his face had looked like four years ago, when the Watcher's Council had fired him.

In Percy Weasley's face he saw the same confusion and uncertainity he'd seen on his own face after the disastrous events of Sunnydale. _What has happened? How did I screw it up like this? Where will I go now?_ Yes, he know what it felt like to have all your ideals shattered around you; he knew what it felt like to lose the dream you'd been chasing all your life, when you'd been so close to reach it... And he knew what it felt like to be clueless about your immediate future. One day, your whole life was perfectly planned; the next, all your plans vanished into thin air and you no longer knew what to think, where to run.

In the young man's face he also saw the incredulity and indignation poorly hidden. _Why me? I did everything all right, didn't I? I did everything by the book, I did everything that I was supposed to..._ Yes, he remembers that part too. When he knew that he'd been fired, he couldn't believe it at first. _It's impossible._ He had prepared himself his whole life to be a Watcher. He had read all the books, do all the training. _Hell, I even ate all my vegetables._ He had been made Prefect and Head Boy at Watcher's Academy, he had been the youngest in his class to graduate. He was perfect for the job. _Then why, why did I fail?_

It had been a long time since those questions had stopped haunting his sleep. Now he knew that it didn't matter how well you did things, how carefully you planned every step, because sooner or later you'd screw it up. He wasn't being pesimist: that phase had passed, too. No, it wasn't pesimism. He'd just realised that sometimes it didn't matter how hard you worked, because certain things would always be outside your control. And it wasn't always your fault. Yes, he'd also realised that. After years of self-loathing and blaming himself for every little thing that went wrong, he'd realised that it wasn't always his fault. Sometimes things just...happened.

He wondered if Percy had figured that out by now. He doubted it. It had taken him several more mistakes to see it, and if he wasn't much mistaken the same would happen to Percy. The young man had a lot in common with Wesley, he'd have to hit his head against the cold stone several times before realising that he couldn't control everything around him.

He also wondered whether he should tell Percy that this wouldn't be the last time he'd screw it up, that he had enough time to fail many more times before he died. He decided he wouldn't. Certain things you had to learn them the hard way or you never learnt them at all. Wesley repressed a humorless chuckle. That was what his own father used to say when he was a frightened child locked under the stairs. It had been a long, long time since then.

Anyway, here he was now, giving Percy the big tour on his first day at work. Which wasn't that big, really. Their part of the building was quite small, as the rest of it was used to place all the young Slayers in training.

After Sunnydale's fall, Giles and the others had found themselves with a little problem: as the Watcher's Council HQ had been destroyed with most of its members in it, for first time in history there were more Slayers than Watchers. Which kind of complicated the girls' training.

After spending some time in Cleveland to regroup, they had come up with a solution: train all the Slayers together. The place chosen was London, as Giles had many contacts there. Giles found that only the English HQ was gone, so he managed to get financial support from the Watchers from other parts of the globe, and this way the Watcher's School for Slayers had been created.

To Wesley's own surprise, Giles had called him to help him to organize the whole thing. As Wolfram and Hart (as well as half of LA) had been destroyed, Wesley decided to return to England for the first time in four years. He'd left Angel, Cordelia and Connor behind, whereas Fred and Gunn had moved to Cleveland to help the two Slayers (Rona and Kennedy were their names) and their Watcher (an old friend of Giles from Watcher's Academy) that were radicated there. Lorne, on the other hand, had decided to go with him for some strange reason.

Giles was the Headmaster of the school, to call him something, and he ran the school with the help of some foreign Watchers, a couple of the members of Sunnydale's former gang, and Robin Wood, Faith's boyfriend, who had some experience at dealing with teenagers. Wesley's job was a little different.

When they'd arrived to England, they'd noticed that there was something wrong in the Underworld, and soon they'd found out why: Lord Voldemort, an extremely powerful Dark wizard, had returned from the grave. Which put them in a tricky position, as they were non-magical people fighting against the Dark forces. However, even though the Watcher's Coucil had given their support to create the school, its members had also stated that no funds would be destinated to fight against Voldemort's forces. They said that it was a problem of the magical community alone, but Wesley suspected it had a lot to do with the ancient rivalry existent between the Watcher's Council and the Ministry of Magic. Either way, they realised that the Council would do nothing to stop Voldemort and, even though they were aware that they couldn't deal with Voldemort's Death Eaters, it was their responsability to do something about the increase of the demoniac and vampire folk. And that was how the Special Departament had been created.

This Special Department took care of every affair related to Voldemort, from keeping tabs on the most dangerous vampires to gathering information and colaborating with some members of the magical community, who called themselves the Order of the Phoenix.

The Department was directed by Wesley and, much to his secret amusement, Faith. He had had many doubts about how that working relationship would turn out, but so far it had been just fine. He'd have never guessed it, but they actually made a good team. Certainly, too many things had happened to them since that fateful night when she had spent several hours cutting him into little pieces.

And it was for that Department that they needed Percy Weasley, as Willow was taking care of other business right now and Wesley only knew the basics of magic. True that Percy didn't have much experience at dealing with Dark creatures, but it wasn't like they could afford an Auror. Besides, Wesley had the feeling that Percy would be capable of facing the challenge.

He couldn't deny that the young man was making an effort. He was listening intently to Wesley's explanations and his eyes didn't miss one single detail. Wesley noticed that he had even bothered to shave and get some decent clothes for his first day at work.

'This is going to be your office' He noticed that Percy nodded before he could help it. Wesley blinked. For a moment, it had reminded him painfully of his own old obsession to please people around him. The distorted mirror attacked again. 'It's quite small, and you'll have to share it, but...'

In fact, it looked more like a closet than an actual office, but Percy didn't seem to mind.

'It's bigger than my old bedroom', he admitted, shrugging. There was, at last, a difference between them: their childhoods couldn't have been more different. Wesley wondered whether Percy would believe him if he told him that he'd been the lucky one.

'Well, as I was saying, you are sharing it with Andrew...'

As if he had invoked the boy, Andrew appeared out of nowhere.

'Wesley, Giles would like to know if...'

'Ah, Andrew. Just the man I was looking for'.

The boy blinked, and Wesley was pretty certain he'd missed the slightest hint of sarcasm in his voice. The truth was that he found Andrew (like many others) quite annoying, but this time he thought that he could be useful.

'Look, Andrew, here's your new partner. Why don't you show him the place and all?'

As he walked away, he could hear Andrew pompously introducing himself, and then Percy's voice reached his ears:

'It's Percy. Percy Weasley...'

And for a moment, just for a brief moment, Wesley could have sworn that he had heard a distant voice coming from another time and place:

'_It's Wesley, thank you. Wyndam-Pryce. I am from the Watcher's Academy in southern Hampshire. In fact, I happen to be Head Boy...'_


End file.
